1 . Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an auto-changer adapted to contain recording mediums in a plurality of units directly therein or in a cartridge, take out a desired one of the contained recording mediums and convey it to a recording/reproducing apparatus.
2 . Related Background Art
An auto-changer 201 according to the prior art is of such a construction as shown in FIG. 1 of the accompanying drawings and is comprised of an apparatus 202 for recording and/or reproduction (hereinafter referred to as the recording/reproducing apparatus), housing shelves (not shown) in which a plurality of cartridges 203 are housed in parallelism to one another, and conveying means 204 for moving the cartridges 203 in vertical directions indicated by arrows by suitable driving means (not shown).
When for example, a recording medium in the sixth containing shelf from below is to be used, the conveying means 204 is moved to the position of the sixth housing shelf from below and the cartridge 203 therein is conveyed to and placed in the conveying means 204 by a suitable carrying mechanism (not shown). After the cartridge 203 has been placed, the conveying means 204 is moved downwardly and brings the cartridge 203 to the position of the cartridge insertion port of the recording/reproducing apparatus 202.
The cartridge 203 is discharged from the conveying means 204 and is inserted into and mounted in the recording/reproducing apparatus 202. When access is to be obtained to another medium, the cartridge is discharged from the recording/reproducing apparatus 202 and is returned to the housing shelf, and the conveying operation for the next cartridge 203 is entered.
The addition of a new caridge to the housing shelf is accomplished by inserting the cartridge into the conveying means 204 through the insertion port 205, moving the conveying means 204 and conveying the cartridge to a desired empty housing shelf. Also, the interchange of a cartridge is accomplished by the conveying means 204 conveying the cartridge 203 to be interchanged from the housing shelf to the insertion port 205, discharging it from the insertion port 205 and introducing a new cartridge 203 as described above.
The auto-changer according to the prior art registers and controls recording mediums for each one unit (one cartridge) and conveys them to the recording/reproducing apparatus, and mounts and dismounts them. Accordingly, it is necessary that the conveying mechanism be returned to the housing shelf each time recording mediums in one unit (one cartridge) are interchanged, and this leads to the waste of much time during the interchange of the cartridge. Particularly, the waste of time is enlarged more for recording mediums of small memory capacity in one unit (one cartridge). Also, the recording/reproducing system is designed to interchange the same recording mediums in a single form and therefore, the form of data to be recorded is limited as shown in the following example.
For example, a recording medium in the form of a tape is used for the recording of data such as moving images, from the viewpoint of a great capacity and continuity. The recording medium in the form of a tape, however, is extremely inferior in performance due to its structure, with regard to the access to arbitrary data. Also, in a searching apparatus such as a library in which the size of individual files is small but the number of the files is enormous, use is made of recording mediums in the form of a disc excellent in accessibility, but such recording mediums are unsuitable for the recording of a great deal of continuous data. Further, for the memorization of documents to be permanently preserved, use is made of recording mediums of the recording type (not requiring overwriting) which is capable of recording only once.
As described above, in the multimedia system, it is necessary that data in different forms such as moving images, static images, voices and documents be made mixedly present at a time and frequently interchanged for use. So, in terms of the system construction, it is possible to connect individual recording/reproducing apparatuses (including apparatuses of the changer type) differing in recording form through a network, select and use an apparatus conforming to the form of recorded data. However, when the installation locations of the recording/reproducing apparatuses are dispersed, physical custody or the like for the preservation of recording mediums becomes difficult. Also, when a plurality of recording/reproducing apparatuses are concentratedly installed at a location, there are left problems such as the connectability to the network and the necessity of maintenance of each apparatus.